McAfee offers several subscription plans, from basic Antivirus through its top-of-the-line Total Protection and LiveSafe services, each one providing money-back guarantees if it fails to detect and eliminate viruses from your device.
McAfee excelled in tests conducted by independent lab AV-Test, stopping all known malware samples as well as nearly all new “zero-day” ones. Furthermore, McAfee protects users from ransomware by creating encrypted copies of affected files which only the software could decipher.
Antivirus
McAfee AntiVirus is designed to detect and delete malware files from your computer. The program features a real-time protection engine to block malicious software from running on your device, as well as useful system tuneup tools which can speed up performance by cleaning out junk files from the hard disk drive. Unfortunately, its bulky size often causes it to consume an excessive amount of CPU and memory resources during full or quick scans.
McAfee’s scanner performed very well in our tests, detecting all known or widespread malware samples we threw its way while scoring 100% on all zero-day samples that surfaced during our testing period – placing it alongside Kaspersky, Bitdefender and Norton, who all scored 100% across the board (in terms of zero-day tests). This earned it top honors among antivirus solutions.
McAfee’s Web Advisor feature warns you of dangerous websites, and then blocks access based on your settings. Its firewall serves as a secure wall that filters processes to keep hackers from accessing your device; in addition to monitoring and blocking suspicious IP addresses or ports. Stealth Mode even enables your device to remain unnoticed by others.
Custom scan options allow for spot-scanning files you suspect of being infected. In addition, the software runs a monthly cleanup to free up disk space; however it should be noted that only limited number of folders will be scanned during this process.
McAfee provides parental controls and identity theft monitoring in addition to traditional virus scanning and removal; however, these features are dispersed across three distinct menus that require multiple clicks – I would prefer for all these security features to be integrated into one intuitive user interface, similar to TotalAV or Bitdefender have done.
McAfee offers various plans, from Antivirus and Internet Security through to Total Protection and LiveSafe. Each of these plans comes equipped with its Virus Protection Pledge which will refund your money if an infection remains undetected by software installed. Furthermore, McAfee’s Techmaster Concierge service can assist with complex network-related problems at an additional fee.
Firewall
McAfee Firewall is a security application that resides on your computer, working behind-the-scenes to block unauthorized access. You can customize McAfee Firewall to allow or deny certain programs access; additionally it monitors web traffic for suspicious activity before it passes over into cyberspace. McAfee Firewall comes both as a standalone product or as part of an all-encompassing McAfee suite solution.
McAfee Firewall app is easy to use and features an intuitive layout. Divided into three tabs, its key settings can be quickly found on the left-hand column, while your current security status updates each time you click a tab. Moreover, right-hand column provides details about program activity such as alerts and blocked threats while its taskbar icon provides quick access for updates as well as other functions like VPN connections and real-time scanning.
Custom Scanning provides you with the ability to conduct targeted virus scans on files or programs you are concerned about downloading or when your virus scanner doesn’t detect threats. Alternatively, scanning can also be conducted system wide by selecting “McAfee Scan,” with full scans taking only about 8 minutes during our tests.
Ransomware and Trojans are two threats that McAfee is dedicated to guarding against, as these malicious infections often lock down devices, demand payment, record keystrokes and lock in to your personal files for encryption. McAfee’s Ransom Guard acts as a deterrent by creating protected copies of all your files as well as scanning for signs of encryption.
Additional features offered with LiveSafe and Total Protection are a password manager and free VPN connectivity; functional parental controls exist but they don’t rival those from Norton.
McAfee offers customer support via email, phone and live chat and also provides a helpful FAQ library. Subscription-based products from McAfee like Antivirus and Internet Security feature a generous money back guarantee; however if you cancel before the end of its term then VPN and Dark Web monitoring features will no longer be accessible to you.
Identity Theft Protection
McAfee Identity Theft Protection offers an all-in-one suite of tools, such as password manager, VPN connection, tracker remover and file shredder. Furthermore, this protection monitors Dark Web for leaked personal information allowing you to determine if any hackers may have gained access to your details and compromised them.
McAfee conducts live malware tests on various systems to assess its ability to defend against common threats like ransomware (which locks users’ devices with a demand message demanding payment in order to unlock it) or keyloggers (which record keystrokes so attackers can gain access to users’ passwords). Results from these tests showed that McAfee could detect threats quickly and remove them from affected systems.
McAfee software helps protect against identity theft by monitoring all programs running on a computer, inspecting their function, and identifying any unfamiliar programs which might pose threats of identity theft. For instance, Poweliks trojan may create fake Google Chrome processes to increase CPU utilization; McAfee can detect such activity by monitoring every process running and isolating those not running as expected.
McAfee provides other features to assist users, including a memory booster that frees up space by deleting unnecessary files, and a privacy scanner which lets you see exactly which apps have access to what kind of data on your device. In addition, Web Advisor warns users about potentially dangerous websites based on their individual preferences, blocking access based on your preferences.
McAfee Security software offers additional protection to connected devices via its network firewall, and encrypts data at rest and in transit – meaning even if hackers gain entry to company servers and gain access to your information, they won’t be able to read it!
McAfee provides various support options, such as FAQs, virtual assistance and community support as well as 24/7 online chat service. However, the chat service can sometimes be slow in responding; although customer service generally provides helpful assistance.
Recovering Infected Files
Antivirus software that reliably detects and eliminates threats before they cause serious consequences to users is increasingly important in today’s world of cybercrime and privacy breaches. With so many viruses and malware programs designed to steal, damage, or corrupt data on computers as well as access private information for malicious use increasing rapidly, infection risks continue to become a serious problem for all computer users. For this reason it is imperative to implement effective protection systems against threats as soon as they appear; otherwise they could cause irreparable damage that prevent them from working altogether or work more slowly or stop working altogether – making use of reliable anti-virus software essential in protecting one against such threats from occurring before serious consequences occur for them users.
McAfee AntiVirus offers real-time protection to counter these kinds of malware, by monitoring real-time activities on the device and alerting it when new or suspicious ones emerge. Furthermore, McAfee performs periodic storage scans in order to identify potentially hazardous files and isolate them for safe keeping so that they cannot cause further damage.
Once a suspicious file is identified, antivirus can run heuristic checks against it to evaluate whether its behavior matches that of known threats. When this occurs, either delete the infected file immediately or move it to quarantine until you unlock and release it yourself.
False positives occur when McAfee Antivirus mistakenly flags and deletes files that are actually harmless – this is known as “false positives”. Reasons may include whether an antivirus considers a file malicious because it contains code which may infiltrate your system or attempts to access confidential data.
False positives may also occur because an antivirus could mistakenly identify files as harmful because they consume too many system resources, prompting it to quarantine it in order to avoid further system damage. You can retrieve these quarantined files using data recovery tools.
McAfee offers its users a wealth of useful information on its website, from solutions to commonly occurring issues and frequently asked questions (FAQs) to customer support available around the clock to assist with any problems that may arise. Furthermore, cancelling your subscription can be done easily as long as it is done at least seven days in advance of its expiration.
